‘It was chaos. I thought I had died’
He was on his way to a summer job at Man Investments, Tower Hill, when the madness struck.
He later found himself limping out of A&E at the Royal London Hospital after receiving stitches to a gash to his leg.
Last night he knew that seven fellow passengers on the tube he was on had lost their lives.
Yesterday clinical director of A&E at the hospital, Alistair Wilson, said many of the injuries were caused by flying shrapnel. Others suffered extensive burns. The more critically injured underwent amputations.
Some of those who filed into hospital alongside George had brain injuries. Others had serious chest injuries and damage to vital organs.
Of the 208 brought to the Royal London for treatment, 24 were admitted, seven remain critical and one has died.
Travelling from his sister’s flat in Barbican, George was on board a Circle Line tube. “Basically I was sitting on the train somewhere between Aldgate St and Liverpool St tube stations when suddenly everything went dark. My ears were buzzing, my head was pounding, people were screaming. Thick black smoke poured into the carriage. It was chaos.”
“I thought I had died. It is very hard to explain.”
George, from Deal in Dover, was fortunate the doors of his carriage shot open with the force of the explosion that rocked the train.
“The doors sort of exploded and after sitting in the carriage for about 15 to 20 minutes, a few of us got out and walked down the track to Aldgate St.”
Initially, everyone thought it was an electrical failure, George said. It was only when they emerged from the blackness of the underground that people realised the horror of what was happening.
George and the other injured people who made it through the tunnel with him were escorted to the nearest police station.
“We were sent there first to give our details. Then we were put on a double-decker bus and brought to the Royal London Hospital where we were treated very quickly.”
As soon as the wounded began to arrive - some by ambulance; when ambulances ran out, by double-decker bus - the hospital activated its major incident plan, shortly after 9am.
Mr Wilson said they were fortunate to have an above average complement of doctors and paramedics at the hospital because of a special meeting London Air Ambulance was hosting.
“We didn’t have to draft in extra staff and we didn’t suffer from any blood shortages. We’ve had no problems.”
Others clearly had. One young man arrived, distraught, at the doors of A&E, in search of a loved one.
“Where is the list of names of the people who were brought in? Please help me, I don’t know where to go.”
Just then his mobile rang. He answered: “No, I haven’t found her yet, I’m at the Royal now, I’ll just keep looking until I find her.”
A hospital worker steered him through the doors of A&E towards the names of the wounded and dead.
Overnight, London had lost any sense of Olympic celebration and Wednesday’s joyous clamourings were replaced by screeching sirens.
Lawrence O’Connell, George’s father, summed it up. “I told him it was a cruel world. But I never thought that it would turn out like this.”
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